Betrayer, Betrayed
by justjoy
Summary: A series of unfortunate events converge into one decision - one single decision that will change the world irreversibly. Nothing will ever be the same again. [AU, collab with Crystalscar] -ON HIATUS-
1. Prologue

DISCLAIMER: Yep. You know it, I know it - but let's just go over it again. Don't own Bleach, never have, never will.

Authors' Note: Yes, we're back again. (In case anyone hasn't figured out, it's me and Crystalscar here. Wait... you mean we were gone before?) Ahem. Anyway, this is the result of a collab between the both of us. Read on for more information...

IMPORTANT NOTE: _This is an AU fic._ You have been warned - please stay away if it isn't your thing. For everyone else, here's a couple of things to note: this fic starts from around the Soul Society arc. The first chapter is set during the same meeting where Aizen's 'death' is discovered in canon. More will be explained as the time comes - just hang in there :D read on, and hope you guys like it!

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><p><strong>PROLOGUE<strong>

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><p>The door of the meeting room slid open. "Kira-fukutaichou?"<p>

"Kotetsu-san!" He looked up, surprised. "You look exhausted. What happened?"

The Fourth Division fukutaichou looked sheepish. "I thought I was going to be late, so I rushed all the way here." She glanced around the room, frowning slightly. "Where's everyone else?"

"Ah – Kurotsuchi-fukutaichou is going to be late, she's conducting an experiment now," he replied. "Matsumoto-fukutaichou is probably drunk again, but –"

"WE'RE HERE!" boomed Oomaeda, cutting Kira off abruptly as he barged into the room, followed closely by Sasaikabe and Iba.

Kira scowled, annoyed at the interruption. "Kusajishi-fukutaichou is still somewhere out there with Zaraki-taichou, I believe. I still haven't seen any sign of Ise-fukutaichou and Hinamori-fukutaichou, though."

As he spoke, there came the sudden sounds of a struggle outside the door before it slid open, revealing Hisagi and Renji half-dragging a stumbling Rangiku into the room.

"Thery aren't here yet?" Hisagi asked, over the sound of Rangiku's druken mutterings. "That's odd… normally they're the first to arrive."

By this time, Renji had given up on making the Tenth Division fukutaichou sit on her chair; despite his efforts, she had ended up sprawled on the floor of the room.

Sasaikabe finally spoke. "Should we start the meeting now? It's getting late."

The others nodded, and he cleared his throat, shuffling the stack of papers in front of him. "Well, firstly, regarding each division's budget –"

"Wait, wait!" Rangiku's voice came from somewhere near the ground, her words slurred. "What… what's this?"

All the gazes in the room turned towards her – she had propped herself up so that her arms rested on the table, hands holding a distinctly familiar brown object.

There was a sharp intake of breath from Kira. "Matsumoto-san! Where did you find that?"

"Oh, this?" Her brows creased as she frowned, struggling to remember. "It – ah – it was right here, on the floor…"

"What are you so worked up about, Kira?" Renji asked, obviously annoyed.

"This thing… it's Ise-san's badge." Kira took it carefully from Rangiku's hands, turning it around. "But she never goes without – oh –"

His voice trailed off as the badge fell to the table with a loud clatter, and Isane gasped as her gaze fell on it.

The white sash of the badge was stained, flecked with congealing drops of red.

Blood.

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><p><strong>to be continued...<strong>

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><p>2nd Authors' Note: PLEASE DON'T KILL US! Really. I mean it. Dead authors = no more chapters! Yep. So don't kill us - we'll do it ourselves :D we'll try to update as regularly as possible, but no guarantees - blame the school if you must.<p>

3rd (and last!) Authors' Note: So, what do you think? More will be revealed in the coming chapters. Leave a review :D pretty please? And thanks for reading~

-JC-


	2. Two Days Before

DISCLAIMER: *insert something here*

Author's Note: Unfortunately, Crystalscar is (making attempts at) sleeping right now, so I suppose it's up to me to write the A/N then. Oh, well. What can I say? Hope you like the chapter, then. There's a timeskip to about two days before the events in the prologue; this may not fit exactly to canon, but this _is_ an AU anyway.

Oh, and the first scene is loosely based off the scene from chapter 100, where Hinamori goes to see Aizen in his room the day before his "death", just in case anyone's wondering... on with the chapter, then!

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><p><strong>1. TWO DAYS BEFORE<strong>

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><p>"Is something troubling you, Hinamori-kun?"<p>

The younger girl started at the sound of her name. She blushed slightly as she looked up at her kindly taichou – she hadn't even realized that she was staring blankly at the book he'd given her to read. "Ah – ah, it's nothing, Aizen-taichou!" she stammered sheepishly. "Nothing at all…"

"Alright. If you say so." He turned back to his work, picking up his brush again. "You know you can always come to me if you need anything at all, Hinamori-kun."

The reply was hesitant. "Oh – okay…"

Neither of them spoke for a few moments; he continued to do his work serenely, while she fidgeted behind him.

Finally, she took a deep breath and spoke up. "A… Aizen-taichou?"

"Yes?" He didn't turn around, but she knew he was listening.

"It's nothing much… it's just that… Shirou-chan has been acting weird lately," she admitted.

There was the sound of paper rustling as he rolled up the scroll that he'd been working on. "I see. You mean the Tenth Division taichou?"

She nodded, suddenly blushing furiously again. "I – I'm sorry to waste your time on small matters like this, Aizen-taichou!" she added hastily.

He smiled as he turned to look at his subordinate. "Don't worry about it, Hinamori-kun. I appreciate you sharing your problems with me," he said, gesturing for her to continue.

"Hitsugaya-kun's been disappearing quite a few times recently." She frowned. "I asked Rangiku-san, but she doesn't know where he goes either."

He considered the information for a moment. "Could it be possible that he just wants some time alone?" he suggested.

"I don't think so," she replied, shaking her head slightly. "He – he's never done something like this before. And he looks troubled every time he returns to Sereitei." She bit her lip nervously after she finished speaking.

There was a slight pause. "I understand your worry, Hinamori-kun. It's always nice to see how caring you are about your friends."

Standing up, he walked over to pat her shoulder. "Why don't I look into this matter for you? That should take a load off your mind."

She looked up at him, her face brightening. "Really? Thank you so much, Aizen-taichou!"

"It's nothing much at all, Hinamori-kun." He waved off her thanks. "I don't mind doing it for you.

He checked the clock on his table. "Run along now – it's getting quite late already, and you need to get up early tomorrow to train the new recruits."

"Hai, Aizen-taichou!" Thanking him again, she ran off, looking relieved.

His gaze followed her retreating back, the kind smile on his face fading slightly.

_Hitsugaya Toushirou._

He sat there for quite some time before he finally stood, extinguishing the light and plunging the room into darkness. His footsteps resounded in the quiet night as he left the study.

_I wonder…_

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><p>There was a light knock on the door.<p>

"Come in!" the 3rd Squad captain called in a singsong manner as he leaned his chair back so that it only stood on two legs. He rather hoped it would be Kira on the other side of the door; traumatizing his subordinate never really got old. Or maybe it was Kaname, or –

The visitor stepped through the door, jerking his thoughts to a screeching halt.

"Ichimaru."

"Wait – what –" and down the chair went with a resounding crash.

Gin stood up slowly, his eyes opening slightly to meet the impassive gaze of his visitor.

"10th Squad taichou-san… what're ya' here fer?"

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><p>In a place not too far away, a person carefully monitored the progress of several bright dots across a screen showing the map of Sereitei's grounds.<p>

A few quick keystrokes later, the footage that had been collected from several surveillance posts around the division barracks appeared on another screen, showing snippets of fights between the shinigami and the group of ryoka. He noted the various fighting styles of the combatants, especially that of the orange-haired ryoka.

_Interesting, _he thought, nodding slightly to himself.

He hadn't really expected Kurosaki to pick up fighting with Zangetsu quite so easily – but it wasn't so surprising after all, considering who he really was.

For a brief moment, he wondered if he needed to adjust the timeframe of his plan to accommodate this unexpected… development, but dismissed the thought just as quickly. They had more than enough time to do what they wanted, after all.

He smiled slightly as he brought up the reports for the day, skimming quickly through them. The light from the screens reflected off his eyes as he worked, making them seem to glow with an odd blue light.

Finally, he pushed his chair back, his work done for the day. He was just about to leave when a movement on the screen caught his eye.

Even as he watched, the dots began to inch towards the tower labeled _Shrine of Penitence._

He allowed himself another satisfied smile as he silently left the surveillance room.

_Excellent. Everything is going just as planned._

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><p><strong>to be continued...<strong>

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><p>2nd Author's Note: Hope that was long enough for everyone :D things will start to get more interesting very soon, I promise! I'll update ASAP, but no promises. Most of the next chapter is already written, though, so cross your fingers and hope that the teachers learn benevolence, I guess...<p>

3rd (and last!) Author's Note: Please leave a review and tell us what you think! I would love to hear your thoughts on the story thus far. Complaints, suggestions, compliments all welcome as usual. 'Til the next time, then :D thanks for reading!

-JC-


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